SEARCHING FOR INSPIRATION?
Perspectives on Personal, Family and Community Development
by
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Everyone is looking for inspiration! We need it at all times, but particularly today. Battered and bruised by a plethora of ailments, physical, emotional, social and economic, people everywhere are looking for fresh avenues of meaning and new sources of hope. They are looking for inspiration. No doubt inspiration is a product of the mind, but it is not merely human. Creative use of language does provide us with fresh tools to express new meanings and deeper perceptions. However, inspiration is more than verbal jugglery. It has mystical roots. It is holy rapture. According to Plato, it is a 'piece of divinity' bursting into the soul. Inspiration comes unbidden. We have little control over it. Just like the wind, we do not know where it comes from and where it goes. All we have to do is to heed its call. It is an essential ingredient of creativity. It can breathe fresh purpose into our lives. At times it can strike us like a bolt from the blue. It can pummel us like a tsunami. At others it can take the form of a gentle whisper. We need silence to hear its voice. Inspiration is unconventional wisdom. It breaks the mould. It can jolt us out of our comfort zone and lead us to unknown places. Its power is unfathomable. When one is inspired, one is possessed, taken over, led along. Because it is powerful, it can also lead astray. Even the devil can quote the scriptures. We must watch it. No artist can be given moral exemption. We must constantly bring it under the purview of wisdom. Inspiration can step out from virtually anywhere. Life itself is the greatest source of inspiration. Everything in life can inspire. No aspect of life is beyond its purview. Not jus the extraordinary, but even the ordinary moments of life can be carriers of inspiration. Even a blade of grass can be a theophany! Inspiration does not just strike us from the outside. It also takes us within. Indeed, within us lies the most powerful source of inspiration. Immensity has made its home right within us. It is within that life's decisive battles are fought and key victories won. It is not just about us though. It is also others. Every human being, irrespective of caste, colour, creed, culture or class, has the innate potential to inspire and be inspired. Even ordinary human beings can inspire. However, there are some extraordinary souls, who through their inspirational lives, have left indelible footprints in the sands of time. As human beings we model complexity. We are body, mind and spirit held in delicate balance. The human mind is a never ending source of wonder. However, we are more than thinking animals. We are feeling animals too. Inspiration does not just enlighten the mind; it also inflames the heart. We are also social animals. We yearn for community. We love to connect and congregate. We build communities and communities build us. Family is the most basic of all communities. It is etched into our being. It is there, so many of us, experience love for the first time. Families shape us and mould us. We are all children of nature. From earth we come, to earth we go. It is supremely inspiring. It whispers to us of God. A walk through the woods is often the greatest remedy for soul malady. If we have lost the sense of wonder today, it is because we have lost our closeness to nature. Work is a fundamental feature of human existence. It is through work that we earn a living. However, work is more than a means to eke one’s livelihood. It is also a vehicle through which we express ourselves. It would be a real tragedy if we are are forced to park our souls at the door as we walk into work. As embodied spirits, we traverse this world and the next. We are multi-layered creatures. We are not merely corporeal entities; we are also spiritual beings. We have always been so. No wonder the 'Beyond' never ceases to beckon us! Only the infinite can truly satiate our thirst. We live in hope. Hope never dies. No doubt, then, the ability to hope even when everything is lost is one of the most inspiring things about us human beings. Life is not a weary puzzle. It is pregnant with purpose. We are not mere accidents. We are here to fulfil a particular purpose, a specific role. Ultimately, our purpose in life is to leave the world better than we found it. Accomplishing life's purpose demands perspiration, no doubt, but hours of perspiration would take us nowhere without a moment’s inspiration.
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About the Book
At one time or another, life hits everyone like a ton of bricks. Energy is drained, moods are dark, and motivation low. The will to live takes a blow. Joie de vivre vanishes into thin air. However, we human beings are incredibly resilient creatures. We do not throw in the towel easily. We have the potential to rise above the gloom and doom and fill our lives with fresh purpose and new resolve. We have the power of inspiration. We all need inspiration. Without it we will shrivel emotionally. Inspiration opens up a world of possibility. We need it as much to navigate the exceptional moments as to deal with the details of ordinary existence. This book is a tour de force and takes the readers on an exciting journey of self-discovery traversing such central pathways of human existence as life, self, community, leadership, family, nature, work, adversity, spirituality, hope, etc., and, with the help of up-to-date research in the fields, shows how they can all become instruments of profound inspiration. Take hold of this book and you will find much fodder for the soul.
About the Author
With a background in theology, philosophy, sociology, and psychology, having taught at second and third levels for the past thirty-five years over three continents and worked with individuals, families, and communities globally, Joseph Putti brings to the readers, through this book, a unique and inspiring perspective on a wide range of issues that define the mood of our times.